Apparatus and method for enhancing face-to-face communication

ABSTRACT

A wearable electronic tag for displaying graphics and text images and for communicating with other similar tags. Each tag includes a visible, graphical display adapted to be worn by a user. The tag also includes a short range, substantially unidirectional electronic communication channel, such as an infrared transmitter-receiver, located on the display unit so that, when the display unit is worn, the interface faces in a direction of the desired communication with another person who also is wearing a similar tag. This arrangement makes possible automatic data exchange and comparison of the interchanged data and display of the results of the comparison on the tags worn by the two wearers. The tags also have a longer range wireless communication system to receive and transmit data.

CROSS-REFERENCE

This application is a continuation of application Ser. No. 10/729,696,filed Dec. 5, 2003, which is a continuation-in-part of application Ser.No. 10/396,064, filed Mar. 24, 2003, the entire contents of both ofwhich are incorporated herein by reference.

BACKGROUND

This invention relates to a method and apparatus for facilitatingface-to-face communication. More specifically, the invention relates toa wearable display that has communication capability, allowing thewearers' displays to communicate with each other, either with or withoutany action by the wearer.

Over the past several years, technology has been developed at the MediaLaboratory of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology to facilitateface-to-face communication. One of the inventors of this invention hasdone pioneering work in the development of “intelligent badges” worn bymeeting participants to take the place of paper badges. Earlyincarnations of this technology used badges that contained multiple LEDsthat communicated with each other. The signals transmitted between thebadges denoted the answers to preprogrammed, multiple-choice questions.By watching the number of LEDs that lighted up when two people wearingthese badges came close to each other, you could ascertain the number ofmultiple-choice questions that the two people answered with the samechoice. For example, if there were five LEDs on the badge, and threelighted up when the two people approached each other, they both knewthat they had answered three questions with the same choice.

This technology was later expanded by included coded ideas. Data couldbe entered into the badges expressing an idea. An idea was displayed intext on a wearer's badge. When two wearers approached each other, if oneagreed with the idea of the other (he could read the idea on the otherperson's badge), he could press a button on his own badge and that ideawould be “accepted.” Since the acceptance was memorized, data could begathered at the meeting about which ideas received wider and whichreceived lesser levels of acceptance among the participants.

SUMMARY

Briefly, the apparatus of this invention relates to a wearableelectronic display unit for displaying graphics and text images and forcommunicating with other similar wearable displays. The display unit,for the purposes of easy reference and not by way of limitation, willhereinafter be referred to as a “tag.” Each tag includes a visible,graphical display adapted to be worn by a user and capable of displayingtext and graphical images. The tag may be worn around the wearer's neck,for example, on a lanyard, or clipped to the person's belt or clothes. Apreferred embodiment of the tag is about four inches square and lessthan an inch deep, except for the battery. The battery may add an extraquarter of an inch to the depth. The tag weighs about 6 ounces.

The tag also includes a short range, substantially unidirectionalelectronic communication channel, such as an infraredtransmitter-receiver, as is well known in the art, having a datatransmitting and receiving interface incorporated into the display unit.This interface is located on the display unit so that, when the displayunit is worn by its wearer, the interface and the display face in adirection of the desired substantially unidirectional communication, soas to make electronic communication between tags. In this configuration,the two tags can exchange data, and each tag wearer can view the displayof the tag worn by the other tag wearer. This arrangement makes possibledata exchange between respective tags worn by two wearers through theinterfaces on the respective tags.

In a preferred embodiment of the invention, the tag may have twoelectronic means of communication, one short range, such as infrared,and one longer range, such as radio frequency identificationcommunication (“RFID”), well known in the art and long been used toelectronically pay tolls at a toll gate. RFID is a medium rangecommunication channel, for example, less than 20 feet. Alternatively,the longer range communication could be WiFi (IEEE 802.11 and itssuccessors), or other radio communication systems. In one embodiment ofthe invention, the tags can include a GPS receiver so that the preciselocation of the wearer can be ascertained. Any or all of thesecommunication, location or identification systems can be advantageouslycombined for the purposes of this invention.

In addition to the tags being capable of communicating with each other,they also may communicate with other things, such as a signboard,permitting the signboard to personalize its message based uponinformation transmitted to it by a tag. An additional desirable featureof a tag of the invention is a timer so that the actual, or relativetime of various communications or actions by the wearer (such asentering a room or encountering another tag wearer) can be kept track ofand used for various of the methods of this invention.

The tags each have a microprocessor and a memory. Data can be enteredinto the memory in several ways. For example, the tag will have at leasta minimum number of keys or buttons, such as “scroll up,” “scroll down,”and “select.” The tags may also have a scroll wheel, such as a clickablescroll where (where a choice is indicated by depressing the scrollwheel), just as PDAs do, to scroll up and down through menus or text. Ifdesired, a complete keyboard can be included. This facilitates manualdata entry. In addition, data can be transmitted to the tags from anRFID reader or any other radio system. When a wearer passes such areader, data can be placed into the tag. Data can also be “broadcast,”for example to an entire room, using RFID transmission and downloadingthe data into all tags in range, or by using appropriate coding, just toselected tags. Finally, the tags may have a wired port, such as a serialport, where data can be downloaded from a computer, such as a personalcomputer (“PC”).

The display of the tag, such as an LCD display, may be backlit, and mayinclude a backlight turn-off timer to save battery power. The tag mayalso include additional visible indicia, such as a light or a flashinglight. Alternatively, or in addition, the tag may emit a sound or a beepto signal the wearer. Preferably, the light is located in a place on thetag where the wearer can normally see it.

In addition, the display may be adapted to be viewed both by the wearerin one mode, and by a person who is nearby in another mode. For example,the tag can hang around the neck of the wearer, and the text will beviewable by a passersby. However, when the wearer lifts the tag up toread it, the text inverts so that it easily may be viewed by the wearer.Furthermore, when the wearer is reading the tag at close range, the textmay become smaller to allow more text on the display. However, when thetag is being viewed by another person, the text may enlarge so that itmay be read from farther away. In order to change modes automatically,the tag includes a sensor that detects whether the tag is oriented inone vertical direction, or in the opposite vertical direction. Such tiltsensors are well known in the art.

The invention also includes a method of communicating face-to-face usinga tag of the invention. This method of communication takes place bypassing a first packet of information electronically from the tag of afirst wearer to the tag of a second wearer, the information includingpersonal information about the first wearer. Then text information isdisplayed on the tag of the second wearer that is based upon acomparison between the first packet of information passed by the firstwearer, and a second packet of information contained within the tag ofthe second wearer. The second packet of information includes personalinformation about the second wearer. Then text information is displayedon the tag of the second wearer and is visible to the first wearer. Thedisplayed text information includes information that resulted from thecomparison of the two packets of information.

Then one or both of the two people can take various actions based uponwhat they have seen on the other person's tag, all as will be describedin the complete description of the preferred embodiment and drawings,which follow.

DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a front view of the display unit of this invention;

FIG. 2 is a top view of the display unit of the invention;

FIG. 3 is a side view of the display unit of this invention; and

FIG. 4 shows the display unit of the invention in the oppositeorientation.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

The tag of this invention is shown in FIGS. 1-4. Referring to thefigures, tag 10 has its electronics all inside the module. It ismanufactured in a similar manner to a personal digital assistant of thetype marketed by Palm and many other companies. The unit includes amicroprocessor, memory, such as flash memory, or other types of fastermemory, all as well known in the art, and depending upon the applicationand various interface electronics and communication devices, includingRFID and infrared (these are inside the unit and are not shown in thedrawings). These are interconnected, as is know in the art, on a printedcircuit board.

The unit is adapted to hang around the wearer's neck using lanyard 22,although it can have a clip or other attachment mechanism on the back(not shown) to attach it to the wearer's clothing. The lanyard ispreferably an adjustable length lanyard so that the shorter lengthallows the tag to hang high on the wearers chest in the tag mode, whenit is to be read by someone else, but uses the longer length needed whenthe tag is to be raised for reading by the wearer. When the tag is to beread by someone other than the wearer, it is in the “tag mode.”

It is important for this invention that the display 12 on tag 10 and thecommunication interface 20 both face outwardly so that communication ispossible with another tag wearer standing face-to-face with the firstwearer. In that way, each wearer can see display 12 of the other wearer,and the communication interface 20 is facing a similar communicationinterface on the tag 10 of the other wearer.

If desired, the tag may have a sticker, preferably a removable sticker,affixed to the front. That sticker may have printed on it the wearer'sname 24 and the wearer's affiliation shown in logo 26. Alternatively,the wearer's affiliation can be printed below the wearer's name on thetop, and the logo 26 can be the logo of the host of the conference, forexample. This sticker is important in case a tag is mislaid. Thesestickers are removable and can be personalized, as these tags are usedover and over again for different wearers.

When two people wearing these tags 10 are standing face-to-face, theirrespective communications interfaces 20, which can be, for example, aninfrared transmitter-receiver, communicate with each other. In apreferred embodiment, the IR transmitter-receiver is tuned to begininformation exchanges at a range of about three feet. Infraredtransmitter-receivers are well known in the art. One example, as shownin Appendix A, is the IrDA Data Compliant 115.2 kb/s 3V to 5V InfraredTransceiver Model Nos. HSDL-3610#007 and HSDL-3610#008 made by AgilentTechnologies. In that way, data contained in the memory of each unit canbe passed to the other unit. A receiving unit can process a receivedpacket of information, combine it with a packet of information containedwithin the receiving unit, and then display the results of thatcombination on the receiving unit. Alternatively, the tags maycommunicate with each other by other means, such as radio, for example,using the Bluetooth standard. Many examples of this will be explainedbelow.

Not shown in the drawings, but contained in tag 10, is an RFIDcommunication system, as is well known in the art. RFID is a backscattersystem. Base stations called “readers” generate a strong RF signal. Thetags remodulate the signal and use the energy of the transmitted signalto send back information to the reader. This minimizes the powerrequirements for the tags. Almost no energy from the tag is required forthe remodulation and retransmission. The tags of the invention can bepowered for five days with four AAA batteries. If desired, rechargeablebatteries also can be used.

RFID is a very robust communication, medium range communication system,able to withstand many types of interference that would harm other typesof radio transmissions. Such interference is generated by cell phones,wireless microphones, walkie-talkies, remote landline phones, and/orwireless networks. RFID systems allow large numbers of users to roamabout large areas without any reprogramming required.

Within the tag 10 is an antenna and encoding system (not shown), as arewell known in the art, so that information is transmitted from an RIFDreader, within reading proximity of the tag, to the tag's memory.Similarly, data from the memory of a tag passing within range of areader will be transmitted to the reader, for example, for furthertransfer to a computer for collation with data received from other tags.An example of such an RFID system is described in an article entitled“WHITE PAPER—Multiband, Low-Cost EPC Tag Reader,” by Matthew Reynolds,et al., published on Jun. 1, 2002, by the Auto-ID Center, MassachusettsInstitute of Technology, 77 Massachusetts Avenue, Buildling 3-449,Cambridge, Mass. 02139-4307. See Appendix B. Other RFID systems,including readers and transponders of the type that are incorporated inthe tags of this invention are described in U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,055,659,4,739,328, 4,782,345, 4,786,907, 4,816,839, 4,835,377, and 4,853,705—allof which are incorporated by reference.

Of course other radio communication systems can be employed instead ofor in addition to RFID. For example, the tag radio may act as a relaystation, relaying messages from one tag to another, or from a tag to acentral transmitter-receiver. The base transmitter-receivers are locatedaround the meeting venue or convention hall to provide the relayfunction. In this embodiment, an individual tag communicates primarilywith the base units. However, tag-to-tag radio communication for dataexchange can still be employed using the same relay technique, and canbe used for the detection of the proximity of one tag to another.

There are a variety of ways to enter and retrieve data into and from atag. In most conferences, attendees preregister, usually on theworldwide web. This data is collected by the conference planners and canbe collated and downloaded into each participant's tag. For thispurpose, a tag may have a port, such as a serial port, through whichdata may be downloaded. This interface is well known, and is used, forexample, to synchronize a PDA to a PC. When the conference is over, datamay be uploaded from the tag to a computer using the same port.

In addition, data may be entered or retrieved from a tag using an RFIDreader. When a tag passes in range of such a reader, the reader, as iswell known in the art, can download or upload data to or from a tag.

Of course the tag itself can be used for obtaining and transmittingdata. The infrared channel built into the tag transmits data to othertags, receives data from other tags, and can be used also to transmitdata to a PC, either directly to an infrared transmitter/receiver on thePC (as commonly come with laptop computers) or using an extra tagintervening between the tag to be read or provided with data, and thePC. In this application, the extra tag can, for example, be attached tothe PC through its serial port. This tag-to-tag method using RF has anadvantage over using RFID for loading or unloading large amounts ofdata, as IR normally has wider bandwidth than RFID.

And finally, a wearer can enter data into his own tag by using thebuttons 14, 16, and 18. For example, button 14 can be used as a scrolldown button, button 16 as a scroll up button and button 18 as a selectbutton. In that manner, the user can select choices from listsdownloaded earlier into a tag, or answer multiple-choice questions.Alternatively, if desired, voice recognition can be installed in a tagso the user can enter data by speaking into the tag. The sensitivity ofmicrophone that receives the voice commands may be changed, depending onwhether the tag is in the “menu mode” (where only the wearer's voice isto be heard), or when the device is in the “tag mode” where the voicewould come from a few feet away.

There is a growing use of the World Wide Web to create multi-user socialnetwork databases. For example, a website such as “Friendster” allowsusers to enter their profiles into the network, as well as entering thenames of all the people they know. Then a user of Friendster can look,for example, for a particular person that she would like to meet, suchas the movie star Tom Hanks. If someone that she has listed as a friendhas listed Tom Hanks as a friend, the network will pop up with thatperson's name. Then the user need only call or email her friend thatknows Tom Hanks, and ask for an introduction. If none of her friendshappen to know Mr. Hanks, the network will search a level deeper to seeif any friends of those she listed as her friends happen to know (havelisted) Mr. Hanks as a friend. If so, the website will provide the nameof both the friend (the first order contact) and the friend of thefriend (the second order contact) to the user. Through those two people,perhaps an introduction can be arranged.

The tag of the invention can be very useful in connection with such asocial network database. The tags keep track of people with whom awearer has come in contact, as described above. This information canthen be downloaded into the social network database. Therefore aperson's social network will contain not only historical relationshipdata that the person has entered into the network, but real time dataabout people a wearer has recently met face-to-face, that can beuploaded, according to the invention, from the tag to the social networkdatabase using the techniques described herein.

Additionally, social network data can be downloaded into the tags. Then,when a wearer meets someone face-to-face who also has his social networkin the tag, the two people can immediately find out to what extent theirsocial networks overlap. Each tag can display a list of any or allpeople that the two people who are meeting know in common. This issimilar to the real world social game people play when they meet newpeople. They spend a good part of their initial conversation time tryingto find out who they may know in common. Using the tags and the socialnetwork, the game can be speeded up immensely, enabling the conversationto be focused on the people the two wearers know in common, rather thanspending the time and effort first to find out who these people are. Thetags perform that function in conjunction with each person's socialdatabase contained in their respective tags. This function may also beperformed by using the tag's radio to query the social network databaserunning on a remote server in real time, rather than having the datastored on the tags themselves.

Additionally, if a person wearing a tag wants to meet someone who isattending the meeting, the social network may be employed so that, if aperson meets someone who also knows the person who is being sought (andperhaps may have spotted that person), it becomes easier for a person tofind that person. The tags can draw on the social network data tosuggest introductions.

If a person going to a meeting wants to do so, she can access an onlinetool in advance and use her social network, together with a list ofmeeting attendees, to find out what friends of her friends may bepresent at the meeting. This information can be downloaded into her tagshe is going to wear. Alternatively, the social network database can bequeried in real time during the meeting, using either radio or the RFIDreaders described herein. The tags can then be used at the meeting, asdescribed herein, to locate those friends of her friends.

After an event, or even during the event, the tag wearer can downloadfrom his tag the contacts made at the event into his social network asdescribed herein.

Kiosks located at central or entrance points at an event can be used todownload or upload data into and out of the tags. The kiosk can have aPC with an attached tag, so the wearer of a tag can approach theattached tag (or “dip” his tag into a bucket containing the attachedtag) and receive or transmit data. Alternatively, the kiosk can have anRFID reader and the tag can get or send data that way. There are also anumber of beaming systems becoming available which provideself-contained beaming sources connected to a central server, eitherwired or wireless. These may be used to get data into the tag. Anothermethod of getting data into a tag is from a PDA, beamed directly to thetag. The PDA can get data when it is synched to a PC, or otherwise. Theuser enters data onto his/her palm and from there beams it in to his/hertag.

Another feature of the invention is shown in FIG. 3. Light 28, on top ofthe unit, can light up when the tag wants to get the attention of itswearer. Alternatively, a buzzer or beeper can be used (not shown),either audible or vibrating, for the same purpose. If desired, thelanyard which holds the tag around the wearer's neck can be the sourceof the vibration to alert the wearer. Applications of these featureswill be described below.

An important feature of the invention is illustrated in FIG. 4. In thatfigure, the display unit is turned upside down. This is done because thewearer would like to read a message being displayed on her own tag. Thismode is called the “menu mode.” In FIG. 4, that message 32 is “Meetingstarts in 5 minutes.” It is seen in FIG. 4 that in spite of the factthat the display unit is upside down (as it would be when raised up bythe user while retaining lanyard 22 around her neck), but the textmessage is right side up. This is because the display unit 10 includesan orientation sensor (not shown) that senses whether the tag is hangingtop up, as it is normally worn, or has been inverted, as shown in FIG.4.

A commercial tilt sensor may be used, such as a GP1S36 tilt sensor fromSharp

Electronics in Japan. This sensor is described in the Sharpspecification sheet entitled “GP1S36 Photointerrupter for Detecting TiltDirection.” See Appendix C. The emitted signal from the sensorindicating that the tag has been inverted causes the text displayed onthe graphical display 12 to become inverted so that it can more easilybe read by the wearer. In addition, if desired, the text also can beswitched to a smaller text so that longer messages may be displayed tothe wearer. Then, when the tag is put back into its normal, hangingposition, called the “tag mode,” the sensor senses this orientation, andthe text mode is re-inverted and, if desired, made larger so it can moreeasily be viewed by another person standing opposite the wearer.Alternatively, if desired, a user input (from a button, for example) maybe used to switch modes.

There are various ways to read the tag in the mode to be read by thewearer. This mode is called the “menu mode.” One way is to have a menuset-up, with entries in the menu being ranked in some way. These entriesmay be placed there before you received your tag at the beginning of theconference, or later by an RFID reader or other wireless communicationmedium. For example, the item you read last in a menu can remain on thetop of the list until you delete that item. Alternatively, the menu canalways go back to the top of the list. Typically, the most importantthing that you may want to view resides on the top of the menu list. Forexample, it can be an ordered list of the people you have engaged withat the conference (and thus had their names recorded on your tag). Orthe top item can be selected in context sensitive manner, if thisselection has been programmed into the tag.

If you are in a talking mode (meeting people, but not passing by RFIDreaders), one class of items, such as a list of whom you have talked to,can be at the top of your list. On the other hand, if you are passing byan RFID reader, the top item on your list can change to a conferenceagenda if, for example, you are going to a meeting when you pass by thatreader. If the reader is located at an entrance to the exhibitors'booths, the top item in your ordered list can be a list of the boothsand their locations. Artificial intelligence can be used to decide whateach person should have on the top of his or her own list. The timer canbe used in making these decisions (keeping track, for example, of howlong it has been since you have interfaced with another person, or howlong it has been since you have passed a particular RFID reader).

Another embodiment of the invention is to combine a tag with a PDA. Forexample, when using the combination unit as a PDA, the IR interfacefaces out the end of the unit (for example, the part shown in FIG. 3).When using the device as a tag, the IR device faces out the front of theunit as shown in FIG. 1 (element 20). Alternatively, the device can havetwo IR transmitter-receivers, one on the top and one on the front, andthe transmission can be switched from one to the other by using aswitch, or by using the orientation sensor described above.Alternatively, mirroring devices or other light switches can be used toswitch the IR beam from outputting from one location on the tag toanother location.

In addition, the tags can have other mechanisms for communication, suchas WiFi receivers, compliant with IEEE 802.11 and any successorstandards. These can be used for communication as well. This will alloweasy communication to a central website or to a central host computer atthe conference. Any other form of radio communication known in the artcan also be employed in the tags, provided that interference problemscan be overcome.

Tags can have additional information gathering devices beyond the IR andRFID communication media. For example, a tag can contain a GPS locatingdevice, allowing the tag to “know” where each person wearing a tag ispresently located. A location detection system that works throughtriangulation may be used in addition to GPS where GPS does not providegood enough in-building coverage. GPS works better outside than it doesinside a building. If that location information is sent through RIFDreaders to a central location, and there are enough RFID readers, itbecomes easy to locate someone at any time. If you are told that youshould find another person, you can enter that person's name in yourtag, walk by an RFID reader and get data as to that person's whereaboutsat the conference. Similarly, your tag will pass your location to anRFID reader when you pass it. Alternatively, if the tags have radiotransmitting capability, your location can be continually broadcast to acentral computer. A tag can then interrogate the central computer in thesame way and ascertain the location of any other tag wearer. When youhave been told that you have something in common with another person atthe conference, as will be described later, this will assist you infinding that person. Various rules may be applied to determine who getsaccess to a person's location information. For example, as a tag wearer,I can make a choice and enter that choice into my tag, indicating (1)that anyone can have my location information; or (2) only people I have“met” (engaged with for a predetermined amount of time) may have it; or(3) only people I have specifically named individually or as a group,for example, only some or all of the event staff.

The tags of the invention can also incorporate communication of the typeused in cell phones. In this way, information can be downloaded oruploaded to or from a tag using the telephone system. The tag can alsouse radio or satellite communication systems such as now commerciallyused by the “Blackberry” type of hand-held email devices. And, ofcourse, if the tags have both PDA and cell phone capabilities, a widevariety of modes of communication with a tag become possible. SMS,another communication system known in the art, can also be incorporatedinto the tags.

There are many new methods of this invention that make use of tagsdescribed above. These applications are made possible because the tagscan combine information. The information to be combined can come from(1) the memory within the wearer's tag; (2) communications transmittedto the tag from an RFID reader, or broadcast wirelessly to all tags orto selected tags; (3) the information in the memory of another tag in IRcommunication with your tag; or (4) information entered into a tag usingbuttons 14, 16, and 18. These buttons are merely an example. The tagscan have a full keyboard or more buttons, if desired. The three buttonsare adapted for short inputs, such as selecting from a menu, scrollingup or down a list, or indicating an action, such as agreement (ordisagreement) with a message being displayed on the wearer's tag or onanother person's tag standing opposite the wearer. Examples of these newmethods of the invention are set forth below.

One use of the tag of the invention is to keep track of people that awearer meets at a conference. The tag has a built in timer that can beused to time how long two tags are in contact with each other, or totime any other elapsed time or real time. Messages can therefore bear atime code. Elapsed time after a tag wearer has passed a reader can beretained. “Face time”—the time spent talking or interacting with anothertag wearer can be measured. The tag may be programmed to require apreset amount of face time during any engagement before it records thename or affiliation of the individual with whom a tag wearer iscommunicating. This minimum time can be set, for example, to one minute.The tag will then remember each person the wearer has communicated withfor at least one minute. That avoids storing data from very brief“hello” types of encounters, or unintentional encounters, such as peopleyou pass in the halls. For each person you spend at least a minute with,his or her name (and any other data, such as affiliation, as programmedinto the tag) is passed from his or her tag, to your tag, and viceversa, and kept, for example, as a list in the memory of the respectivetags.

When you meet someone, your tag can compare the names of people you havemet at the conference with the names of people she has met. If desired,one or both tags can then produce a list of those people the two tagwearers have met in common. If names are not necessary, the tags candisplay the number of people whom the two wearers have met in common,thus demonstrating whether the two wearers have been mingling in thesame circles, or the extent of the overlap between the people one personmet compared to another. In addition, one or both tags can display thename of the person that both wearers most recently met in common. Thebuilt-in timer can associate the time of each face-to-face contact andproduce an ordered list.

A tag can keep track of second order meetings. For example, a tag candisplay the name of a third person that has met a person you have met.Alternatively, when the wearers come face to face, one wearer's tag candisplay the names of all people that the wearer has met who have alsomet that same third person, perhaps a person you are looking for. Eithertag can also display the meeting times, or display a list of names thatare ordered in order of the times when each of the listed people havemet that third person. Each tag also can keep track each time a wearerpasses by an RFID reader. That information can also be transmitted toother tags with which the tag communicates, thereby, at least to someextent, enabling someone to locate someone else, as will be discussedfurther.

The matching can be broadened to include interests, background or otherthings that two or more people at a conference may have in common. Forexample, if the hobbies of each conference attendant are programmed intotheir respective tags, when you approach someone and pass onto her thefact that your hobby is model trains, her badge can indicate if thatalso is one of her hobbies, or if she has previously engaged (accordingto the rules of engagement preset within the tag) with another personwhose tag also indicated that his hobby was model trains. Then the tagof the person you are talking to can, if desired, list the name of thatother person and the time that the person with whom you are presentlyengaged met the third person with the model train hobby (and, ifdesired, also the elapsed time since that person met the third personwith the train hobby).

The tags not only can match any item on the profile of the person withwhom you are presently engaged, but also of people that that person hasmet. If you meet someone with nothing in common with you, her tag can beprogrammed to display a message: “We have little in common, but youshould talk to Sally.” And the message can further state: “I talked toSally 4 minutes ago.” Then you would likely ask this person where shewas four minutes ago, so you can go there in search of Sally. If thetags have GPS capability, the tags will also be able to display the lastknown location in the room of the person who you are seeking that had amatching personal characteristic. Even without GPS, tags can containinformation that tells when a person last passed an RFID reader,providing some hint as to where that person may be when you are lookingfor him.

Tags can make calculations about people based on the number offace-to-face interactions they have. For example, a tag can calculateand display whether you are a mingler or a social dud based upon howmany people you have engaged with.

Most information using the tags of the invention is conveyed by lookingat someone else's tag, not your own. This is different from prior artPDAs, for example, where you primarily will get information by lookingat your own PDA, not another person's PDA. However, you can also look atyour own tag, for example, if conference information is being broadcastto all the tags.

It is important that the tags of the invention are worn so they canelectronically communicate with other tags without user intervention.This is different from a PDA, where communication only takes placedeliberately. With a PDA, the user takes the unit out of his pocket andaims it at another person's PDA to transmit information. There is nomode with a PDA whereby it always is in a mode to transmit to any otherPDA in range. Laptop computers often automatically set up acommunication path with another computer in range, but no actualcommunication takes place without user intervention. The fact that thetag of this invention hangs on your neck, or is otherwise worn in amanner that is always on and ready to communicate with another tag,insures at least some communication without user intervention.

The extent of unsolicited communication between tags can beuser-designed. For example, when two tags come face to face, they mayautomatically exchange names, or names and corporate associations, butnot more. User intervention may be required, such as a press of a button14, 16, or 18, to transmit additional information, such as a businesscard, from one tag to another.

A very important application of the tags of the invention at aconference is to get conversation going. One way to do this is to assigneach person a “secret partner.” When, you meet any other person, theother person's tag will say “I′m your secret partner” or, if she is not,then it might say “I met your secret partner 10 minutes ago,” or “I metsomeone 5 minutes ago who met your secret partner 3 minutes before I methim.” This leads you to ask: “Who did you talk to 5 minutes ago?” Or theperson you are talking to could introduce you to the person she met 5minutes ago.

To get these discussions going, the conference planner can give eachperson the name of a few people that the person is supposed to meet.When you meet one of those people, your tag can delete that name fromthe list. Then the next person you are to meet comes up on the tag.Either you or the conference planner can choose the order of importanceof the three people you are supposed to meet. Each person you meet candisplay on her tag automatically (1) whether she has already met one ofyour assigned people; and/or (2) whether she has met someone who has metone of your people, and, if desired, who that person is.

Another method of the invention using the tags is an entrance poll.Thirty minutes before an event, for example, your tag will flash itslight to signal the user that it has a message (or sound a beep, or anyother method to alert the user, such as vibration of the tag). The timeron the tag can be used to “pop the question” a preset amount of timebefore a speech, for example. At the appointed time, the tag will flashor sound and will display a message saying that you should answer thefollowing question: “What is the biggest danger for your company?” Thenyour tag displays multiple answers, such as “(1) War in the Middle East”or “(2) The fact that your CEO is overpaid.” Or “(3) Competition fromMicrosoft.” This information and questions have been downloaded to yourtag when you passed an RFID reader as you entered the room, or couldhave been pre-stored in the tag when the tag was handed out, or enteredin any of the other ways described earlier.

You answer the question by using the buttons 14 or 16 to scroll up anddown the list, and button 18 to select your choice. If you have donethis before you entered the room, your answer can be read by an RFIDreader as you enter the room. The results from all tag wearers in theroom are tabulated by a central computer, and can be made availablebefore the speech to the CEO who is speaking, enabling the CEO to say:“It is apparent that my excessive salary represents a problem to all ofyou, as 74% of you selected that as our biggest problem!” She can thenfocus on that issue in her talk.

Moreover, before or after the talk, when you meet someone, you cancompare your answers to these questions. If you both answered the same,you have something to talk about. The tags will communicate, and if soprogrammed, will display whether you answered the question the same ornot. If you gave different answers, each tag can display the answergiven by the other person with whom you are talking, telling him how youanswered the question, and vice versa. This also will provide fuel for aconversation.

In addition each the tag may record the time of the meeting and thenames of the two people who are talking. When you go by a reader, notonly is the answer to the question, which you selected, read by thereader, but it may also read the names of everyone you talked to, eitherup to that point in time, or between any prescribed points in time. Inthat way, the meeting planner can maintain a central database of who hasmet whom (provided the respective tag wearers have walked by a readerafter an encounter).

Yet another application is gather information after a speech. The tagcan be timed to flash and ask you what you thought of the speech. Youcan respond to multiple choices, for example, using a Likert scale,using the buttons on your tag, and your answer is then collected on yourway out of the room (by the RFID reader).

Another important application of the tags is to establish common groundamong the attendees at a meeting. For example, before you begininter-tag communication, you can answer a question using your tag. Ifthe meeting is in Las Vegas, the question can be: “What show in Vegaswould you most like to see?” There can follow any number of multiplechoices, which you scroll and pick. When two people meet, the tags candisplay the name of the chosen show for each person, or whether it isthe same show, or both. Moreover, a tag wearer can be a broker betweentwo other people. If the two of you did not choose the same show, thetag can display: “I didn't choose Cirque de Soleil, but I met someonetwo minutes ago who did choose that show.” Then the other person can tryto find that person by asking the person he is now talking to for thename of the person she met two minutes ago.

The same kind of exchange works for interests or hobbies. If attendees,when they register for the conference (or later after they arrive),enter into their own tag their main hobby, that can be used in the samemanner described above. When you approach someone, the tag may searchthrough all the data commonly entered in everyone's tags. Then, if amatch is found, the tag of the person you are talking to can display;“Hey! We both like model trains.” Or “We are both from Eau Claire,Wis.,” or “I see you like model trains. I met someone 4 minutes ago whoalso likes model trains.” These displays will get conversation flowing.

Another method of the invention is to have the tags play the role of ahost. A cocktail party host meets a guest, and takes her over to anotherguest and says “You two are both in the investment business.” Then thehost disappears and the two people can talk shop. The tags can performthis function. A tag does this social function without user interaction.When you meet another person at a gathering, the tags talk before youdo. They search the data stored on each tag and try to figure out whatyou have in common with that person, if anything. It might be a hobby,an interest, for example a popular book you have both read or a movieyou have both seen, where you live, work, what sport you enjoy doing (orwatching), etc. The common thing is displayed on the mutual tags. And ifthere is none, the other person's tag could say: “I′m not from EauClaire, but I met someone 15 minutes ago who was.” Particularly if theplace is not common, or the hobby or interest is uncommon, the personbeing informed of the prior meeting will surely try to find that person.

If the tags have GPS receivers, it makes it much easier to find theperson you would like to talk to, as wearer's locations would be sent toa central host through RFID, or if available on the tag, through WiFi orother radio communication, such as Bluetooth. GPS does not add a lot ifRFID is used, as merely passing by an RFID reader already indicates yourwhereabouts. However, if a longer range radio is on board the tags, eachwearer's whereabouts can be sent continually to a central database,which can be available to the tags through their radio receivers.

If GPS is on the tag, the tags can be used to provide a list of everyonewithin a certain number feet of the wearer of a tag (or within a certainnumber of feet of the person with whom she is talking). In a preferredembodiment, this can be accomplished through tag-to-tag proximitydetection using an active radio system or range finder on the tag. Sucha system is already in use in a system called “SpotMe.” Unlike theinvention, however, the SpotMe device is not a wearable device, butinstead, operates like a PDA, and must be removed from the user's pocketfor each desired interaction.

The names of the nearby people can appear on your tag or on the otherperson's tag. Or, you can enter a name and ask if that person is withina selected number of feet of you. You also can ask the tag to tell youif that person ever does come within 25 feet of you. When that happens,your tag can notify you by a light, beep or other method describedearlier. The GPS information can also tell you in which direction towalk. The tag of the person you are facing can say: “Bob likes modeltrains, and is located 42 feet NW of you.” All this is done by a tagusing its computation powers to compare information it contains, hasreceived from another tag, or in any other manner.

Another method of the invention is using the tags for a “people treasurehunt.” For example, each person needs to find three others who are fromChicago. Or, you need to find one person who is from Chicago and likesbroccoli. The data is most likely fed into the tag before theconference, as described earlier. Then, by communicating with variouspeople, you narrow down your search, as described earlier, when theperson you are talking to displays a message: “I′m not from Chicago, butI met someone two minutes ago who was.” These clues allow you to findyour “treasure” (the person from Chicago who likes broccoli).

In addition to facilitating social interaction, the tags can also beused for event management. They can keep track of which people attendedwhich speeches, or the amount and type of interaction between people atthe event. The tags can keep track, through the RFID readers at theentrances to rooms, who went where. If there are booths to be visited,each booth can have an RFID reader that will keep track of attendees.Since people may want to keep their detailed information confidentialexcept when they wish to share it, the tags can be programmed only toautomatically transmit only the persons name, or name and affiliation.If a person wants to share his business card (with email address, forexample), the tag wearer can be required to press one of the buttons,and then that additional information will be transmitted.

The RFID reader at a booth can also supply information to a tag wearer,if desired by the wearer. By pushing a different button, for example,the tag can receive data about the company sponsoring the booth, orabout its products. Alternatively, the staff at the booth can wear atag, thereby capturing the business cards of everyone visiting the booththat consents to transmit his card information. The booth manager cangather information about the booth staffers from their tags, therebyascertaining which staffers are most effective at meeting people andthereby getting them to share the more detailed business card type ofdata.

The attendee can use her own tag to indicate to a booth staffer's tag arequest for follow-up product information (by pushing a button on theattendee's tag). Your own tag keeps a list of booths visited. Therefore,if desired, you do not need to directly tell the booth staffer yourbusiness card information. You can keep an automatic list of boothsvisited, and later use the tag to select the ones to whom you wish tosend your card, or to send a request for further information from thatbooth. When your tag gets turned in at the end of the conference, thedata is collated and sent to each selected booth operator.Alternatively, as discussed above, that data can be scanned off your tagby an RFID reader during the event. The data may also be made availableto attendees through a website after it has been scanned off the tags,so that an attendee who realizes long after an event that she shouldhave asked for follow-up information can easily do so.

The tags can be used as “automatic” PDAs, and provide business cardexchange when any two people meet. This can be programmed to beautomatic, or require the push of a button, as discussed earlier. Withthe wearable tags of the invention, as opposed to PDAs, the interface isalways present, whereas with a PDA, you have to take it out of yourpocket first.

The tags provide many levels of information exchange. The first level isautomatic. When you face someone who is also wearing a tag, your name(and perhaps your affiliation) appears on your tag for the other personto see. This is analogous to a simple name tag. When two people come upto each other, a message is shown with no time lapse, such as “We bothlike broccoli.” The next level is consensual communication, where youhit a button to pass a business card to another tag. Another level is touse the tag to help remember people whom you have met (this is public,and not confidential information). To avoid meaningless lists, a timeris set, and only after 1 minute of IR interchange time, is theinformation, such as name and affiliation, recorded onto your tag andonto the other person's tag. This avoids collecting meaningless lists ofpeople you passed in the hall, but did not meet. (Presumably you can geta list of all attendees from the conference administrator.) The tag canalso use its timer to provide a time stamp of the time that eachrecorded meeting took place.

At the end of the event, you can get an email from the personadministering the tags, who has read the data from your tag after theevent. This email may contain, for example, two lists. The first willcontain the people you have met (but with whom you did not do the fulldata exchange). That list will only have the person's name andaffiliation. The other list contains the people with whom you did do thefull data exchange, and will contain everything about those people thatwas selected for interchange.

Other useful information can be collected from the tags and distributedto attendees. For example, each person can receive data on the number ofpeople that person met at the conference, along with the average numberof people that each person at the conference met. If desired, thisinformation can be computed and placed into the tags using thetechniques described earlier, thus enabling two people, who areconversing, to be able to see on each other's tag how many people thatperson met at the conference, and also the number they met in common(including the names if that is useful). Data can also be kept (and/ordisplayed on the tags) on how many people one person met that anotherperson has not yet met.

By compiling and distributing statistics, it can be determined whether aperson is a relative introvert or extrovert (by comparing the number ofpeople the tag wearer met to the average number met by each attendee).Thus, the relative size of the attendees' social networks can becomputed and compared (e.g. you're connected to 100 people, but I'm onlyconnected to 50). This provides feedback to the attendees on how welleach one is connected to the social network at the event, and how theirnetworking statistics compare to others.

The last level of communication is used to indicate interest infollow-up. When you are talking to a person, you, hit a different button(from the button used to approve full data interchange), and it flagsthat person for follow up. Then, after the conference, you get threelists: (1) the people you talked to; (2) the people you exchanged“cards” with; and (3) the people you intend, for some reason, to followup with. If desired, there can be only two lists, with the follow upcandidates asterisked. If you want, you can have an “urgent follow up”category, for example, by pressing the “follow-up” button twice. Thesefeatures can be used when you visit a booth as well, either by thepasserby or by the booth staff who are also wearing tags. The eventplanners can provide the same type of lists for the booth staffers. Oneexample of consensual transmission is to flip up the tag, push a button,and the tag puts a check mark next to the name of the person you'retalking to, indicating that you want to send your full contactinformation, such as email, phone, cell phone number, or whatever youchoose in advance to send.

Radio or RFID signaling, using a strong signal from a central reader toone or to multiple tags, can be used to broadcast messages to everyone.Particularly if no response is required, RFID can cover a broad area.Such a message can say that a speech is starting in 10 minutes, or hasbeen delayed for 15 minutes, or that there is a fax waiting at thereception. Since the fax is individual to one tag, it may be sent withthe wearer's tag ID, so only that wearer's tag will pick it up. The tagsmay be programmed to be selective, if desired, and only store messagesdirected to all tags, or only to that particular tag, but not messagesdirected to other tags. This broadcast feature can be used to broadcastevent agendas, speaker biographies, lists of exhibitors or othercommonly useful information.

The RFID-tag communication can record, in a central database, who hasentered a room, who has left the room, and using that information, keeptrack of who is in the room, who attended a particular speech or visiteda booth, who attended various meeting sessions and who did not. Forexample, professionals, such as doctors or lawyers, may only get credit“continuing education” credit for the conference if they attend certainspeeches. The tags can be used to furnish the conference administratorwith all that information, which can be relayed to the State Bar orMedical Board. Many conferences now employ auditors to provideindependent verification of attendance to sponsors and exhibitors. Theattendance data gathered by the tags will avoid the necessity of havingsuch auditors.

Furthermore, there may be areas that only certain, pre-selectedattendees may enter. When a person enters this area, an RFID reader candetect, from the person's tag, whether he is qualified to enter. If not,a buzzer can sound, or a person at the door can receive a signalindicating that the person entering is not qualified to do so. Theperson at door can then ask “Do you have ID?” A person that is notqualified may be refused entrance. Using this mode of operation, thetags can be used to store and transmit “digital tickets” to areas andevents. These tickets can carry rules as to how they may be passed fromone person to another. For an open party, tickets may replicate as theyare passed from one person to another, leaving a ticket with the secondperson.

The amount of replication can be controlled, for example, if attendanceis limited. One tag may only be able to provide three tickets, forexample. After that, it is not possible to pass more tickets. Thetickets may be passed automatically, or only if the tag wearer indicatesa desire to invite the person he is talking with (in the same manner, asdescribed above, the full business card information is passed on). Forstrictly limited attendance, a ticket can only be passed, notreplicated, so that it cannot be passed further by the recipient. Andthere may be rules as to the profile of those to whom tickets can begiven (e.g., only to “gold level” partners, as discussed above). Thesetickets can be linked in to the security mechanism described above.

Another method of using the tags is in conjunction with personalizedmessage boards. When you walk by a sign or advertisement, the signautomatically reads your tag (using any of the available methods ofcommunication on your tag) and displays a personalized message. Forexample, at a conference, the dynamic message board can display: “Theconference you signed up for starts in 5 minutes.” Or, if youpre-registered for the conference, and answered “Toshiba” to thequestion of what laptop computer do you own, the board can display anadvertisement for a WiFi adapter specifically designed for your Toshibalaptop. This would happen automatically as your tag came intocommunicating range (for example, IR or RFID) of the board. Or, theboard can display a phone message for you.

Since the preferred embodiment of the tags of this invention have bothRFID and IR communication, the message board can attempt to read bothsignals. If only the RFID signal was received by the board, and not theRF signal, the board would “know” you were not close enough for IRcommunication but were close enough for RFID communication, and candisplay your message in larger print so it can be read from afar. Thatcould be a short message, such as “You have a phone call.” As you getcloser to the board, when IR communication is detected by the board, theprint can become smaller and the message therefore can be more detailed,such as “Please call your mother on her cell phone at (999) 222-3454.”

Since these tags are reusable, it is important that they be returned atthe end of the conference or gathering. To be sure to get a tagreturned, it is possible to display a notice on the tag timed with thetag's timer to flash or beep one-half hour before the event ends, forexample, and display a message to return the tag. To enforce tag return,attendees can be notified (by the tag or otherwise) that they will notget an email with all their desired contact information unless the tagis returned. The RFID readers at the doors can also be connected toprovide an alarm (such as is used to prevent shoplifting) if a personleaves the meeting area with her tag in her possession.

There are many other embodiments of the tag and the methods ofcommunication using a tag of this invention that will be readilyapparent to those skilled in the art. Therefore, the invention shouldonly be limited as set forth in the claims which follow.

1. A wearable electronic display unit for displaying graphics and textimages and for communicating with other similar wearable displays,comprising: a display unit having a visible, graphical display adaptedto be worn by a user, the visible display being capable of displayingtext and graphical images; and a short range, substantiallyunidirectional electronic communication channel having a datatransmitting and receiving interface incorporated in the display unitand located in a location on the display unit so that, when the displayunit is worn by a wearer, the interface faces in a direction of thesubstantially unidirectional communication so as to make electroniccommunication possible with another person who also is wearing a similardisplay unit, whereby data can be exchanged between respective displayunits worn by two wearers through the interfaces on the respectivedisplay units.
 2. The wearable electronic display unit of claim 1wherein the electronic communication channel transmits and receives aninfrared beam.
 3. A wearable electronic display unit for displaying animage and for communicating with other similar wearable displays,comprising: a display unit having a visible display adapted to be wornby a user, the visible display being capable of displaying an image; afirst short range electronic communication channel having a datatransmitting and receiving interface incorporated in the display unit soas to make electronic communication possible with another person whoalso is wearing a similar display unit, whereby data can be exchangedbetween respective display units worn by two wearers through theinterface on the respective display units; and a second longer rangeelectronic communication channel incorporated in the display unit andusing a different type data transmission system from the firstelectronic communication channel.
 4. The wearable electronic displayunit of claim 3 wherein the first communication channel transmits andreceives using an infrared beam.
 5. The wearable electronic display unitof claim 3 wherein the second communication channel transmits andreceives using RFID.
 6. The wearable electronic display unit of claim 3wherein the first communication channel transmits and receives using aninfrared beam and the second communication channel transmits andreceives using RFID.
 7. The wearable electronic display unit of claim 3wherein the second communication channel is capable of receiving databroadcast to a plurality of display units.
 8. The wearable electronicdisplay unit of claim 3 wherein the second communication channel isadapted to selectively receive a data broadcast to a plurality ofdisplay units.
 9. The wearable electronic display unit of claim 8further comprising a data detecting device that can determine if thedata broadcast includes data intended for the wearer of the displayunit.
 10. The wearable electronic display unit of claim 1 furthercomprising a manual user interface incorporated in the display unit,allowing the wearer to enter data manually into the unit.
 11. Thewearable electronic display unit of claim 10 wherein the manual userinterface includes buttons for scroll up, scroll down and select. 12.The wearable electronic display unit of claim 1 further including asignal generator adapted to communicate to the wearer that his or herattention is needed.
 13. The wearable electronic display unit of claim12 wherein the signal generator is a light generator.
 14. The wearableelectronic display unit of claim 13 wherein the light generator is anLED.
 15. The wearable electronic display unit of claim 12 wherein thesignal generator is a sound generator.
 16. The wearable electronicdisplay unit of claim 1 wherein the display unit is adapted to be wornon a lanyard around the wearer's neck.
 17. The wearable electronicdisplay unit of claim 1 wherein the display unit is adapted to be wornclipped to the wearer.
 18. The wearable electronic display unit of claim1 wherein the display is a back lighted LCD display.
 19. The wearableelectronic display unit of claim 18 wherein the backlight is timed to gooff automatically after a predetermined time interval.
 20. The wearableelectronic display unit of claim 19 wherein the backlight isautomatically turned on when a display unit worn by one person comeswith a predetermined range of another display unit worn by anotherperson.
 21. The wearable electronic display unit of claim 18 wherein themanual interface includes a button that, when pressed, sendspredetermined data to another display unit worn by another person. 22.The wearable electronic display unit of claim 3 wherein the secondcommunication channel can be used to program the display unit.
 23. Thewearable electronic display unit of claim 3 wherein the secondcommunication channel can be used to provide information from aplurality of display units.
 24. The wearable electronic display unit ofclaim 1 further comprising a receiver for receiving GPS signals.
 25. Themethod of claim 3 wherein the second communication system is a radiocommunication system.
 26. The wearable electronic display unit of claim17 wherein the signal generator causes a vibration perceptible by thewearer.